This invention relates to a deodorizing device of an air conditioning system for use in automotive vehicles which is adapted to remove unpleasant odors in the air which is blown into a passenger compartment.
Deodorizing devices of air conditioning systems for automotive vehicles have been known, e.g. one disclosed by Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 59-118520. These conventional deodorizing devices are arranged such that deodorization is effected by automatically opening for a predetermined period of time, e.g. 10 seconds, a door across a communication port communicating the interior of the deodorizing device with an air passage in the air blast duct to thereby let deodorant volatilize and diffuse, from the time the actuator switch for the air conditioning system is turned on, as well as when the compressor is stopped by turning off the actuator switch for the air conditioning system. Therefore, the concept of these conventional deodorizing devices is to effect deodorization only when unpleasant smell carried by malodorous molecules leaving the surfaces of the evaporator are statistically strongest, that is, at the start of the operation of the air conditioning system and also at the time when the actuator switch for the air conditioning system is opened to bring the compressor to a halt, and hence the conventional deodorizing devices is not adapted to positively prevent malodorous molecules from sticking to the evaporator, which is the main source of unpleasant odor.
Since the deodorant does not diffuse due to closure of the above-mentioned door while the air conditioning system is continuously operating, it is not possible to kill unpleasant odor even if they spread while the door is closed (which happens particularly when the evaporator is moistened due to high humidity in rainy weather or a like condition.
Further, according to the conventional deodorizing devices, even when no malodor is produced at the start of the operation of the air conditioning system or at the time the actuator switch for the air conditioning system is opened to bring the compressor to a halt, the door, interlocked with the actuator switch, is automatically opened to let the deodorant volatilize and diffuse. This results not only in a waste of deodorant, but also in that the passenger compartment is filled with odor from the deodorant itself which can be unpleasant to the passengers, especially when malodor is absent.